Perth City Hall

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Perth City Hall
Perth City Hall - view from W.jpg
Perth City Hall, 2011
LocationPerth
Coordinates56°23′45″N 3°25′46″W / 56.3959°N 3.4294°W / 56.3959; -3.4294Coordinates: 56°23′45″N 3°25′46″W / 56.3959°N 3.4294°W / 56.3959; -3.4294
Built1914
ArchitectsHenry Edward Clifford and Thomas Melville Lunan
Architectural style(s)Classical style
Listed Building – Category B
Designated26 August 1977
Reference no.LB39318
Perth City Hall is located in Perth
Perth City Hall
Shown in Perth

Perth City Hall is an events facility in King Edward Street, Perth, Scotland. It is a Category B listed building.[1]

History[]

The buildings of Kirk Close, pictured from St John's Place in the 19th century, were demolished to make way for the city hall

In the mid-19th century the administrative centre of the town was the old city chambers at the east end of the High Street.[2][a] However, civic leaders needed a public hall in which to hold concerts and other public events and the first city hall, designed by William Macdonald Mackenzie, was built on the site of the old flesh, butter and meal markets in what became King Edward Street in 1844.[4] By the turn of the century the first city hall was in a very dilapidated state and, after a piece of plaster fell from the ceiling injuring several people, the building was demolished in 1908.[5]

The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the Lord Provost, Councillor James Cuthbert, on 26 June 1909.[5] It was designed by Harry Edward Clifford and Thomas Melville Lunan in the Classical style, built at a cost of £25,000 and officially opened by the Lord Justice General, Lord Dunedin, on 29 April 1911.[5] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing King Edward Street, which was laid out between 1901 and 1902;[6] the central section of three bays featured a large portico with three round-headed doorways with windows above flanked by full-height Ionic order columns in pairs.[1] Perth mercat cross was erected immediately to the west of City Hall in 1913, during the building's reconstruction.[7][8][9]

Margaret Thatcher addressed the Scottish Conservative Party conference in the hall, just a week after becoming Prime Minister, in May 1979.[10] Beyond the mercat cross, the main entrance of St John's Centre was built facing City Hall: the remainder of St John's Place was demolished in 1987 to make way for its construction.[11]

High profile concert performers at City Hall have included Morrissey in September 2004.[12] However, following the opening of the Perth Concert Hall in 2005, the city hall became vacant[13] and was placed on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland.[14] In May 2012 Perth and Kinross Council submitted a proposal to demolish the hall and redevelop the site but this was rejected by Historic Scotland.[15] The council then sought architectural proposals for the re-design of the existing building and the short-listed proposals were put on display in June 2017.[16] In January 2019 BAM Construction began work on a £30 million programme of works to convert the city hall into a new heritage and arts attraction based on a design by Mecanoo.[17][18] The new attraction will incorporate displays on the Stone of Destiny and the Kingdom of Alba.[19]

In December 2020, the Scottish Government announced that the Stone of Destiny would be relocated to the hall by 2024.[20]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ The old city chambers were replaced by the Municipal Buildings also at the east end of the High Street in 1881.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Historic Environment Scotland. "City Hall, King Edward Street, St John's Place and Kirkside (Category B Listed Building) (LB39318)". Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Perth Burgh Chambers". Made in Perth. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Perth Municipal Buildings". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  4. ^ "Perth City Hall, King Edward Street, Perth, PH1 5UG" (PDF). Historic Environment Scotland. 2 May 2012. p. 2. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  5. ^ a b c "Council archives put Perth City Hall in the picture". Daily Record. 12 August 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  6. ^ Perth, A City Again, Duncan. J. (2012), p. 299
  7. ^ "Civic History of Perth from Medieval Times". Perth Civic Trust. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  8. ^ Perth, South Inch, Cromwellian Citadel - Canmore.org.uk
  9. ^ Cromwell's Citadel at the Wayback Machine (archived 24 August 2012)
  10. ^ "Speech to Scottish Conservative Party Conference | Margaret Thatcher Foundation". Margaretthatcher.org. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  11. ^ St John's Shopping Centre – Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Graphic and Accurate Description of Every Place in Scotland, Francis Hindes Groome (1901)
  12. ^ "Morrissey Concert Setlist at City Hall, Perth on September 3, 2004". setlist.fm. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  13. ^ "Perth City Hall History". Perth and Kinross Council. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  14. ^ "Perth City Hall, King Edward Street, Perth". Buildings at Risk. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  15. ^ "Perth City Hall demolition plan rejected by Historic Scotland". BBC. 10 May 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  16. ^ "Architects' designs for Perth City Hall unveiled". BBC. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  17. ^ "Perth City Hall". Perth and Kinross Council. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  18. ^ "Perth City Hall transformation plan gets final approval". Scottish Construction Now. 31 January 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  19. ^ "New images reveal how Perth City Hall will be transformed". The Courier. 16 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  20. ^ "Stone of Destiny to return to 'spiritual home' of Perth". The Herald. 23 December 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
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